Member Reviews
At 18, Aspen left her small Pennsylvania hometown to pursue singing and acting in LA. When she moved away seven years ago, she left behind her first love, Roman, who after losing both of his own parents, is closer to her family than ever. When she finds herself embroiled in a scandal, she decides to return home for the holidays to regroup. Aspen and Roman are then tasked with directing a group of local kids in the production of the first Christmas story.
I feel like it’s important to start by mentioning that this was written by a 16 year old. Which is super impressive! And I really don’t want to take away from that but I would be remiss if I didn’t honestly say this was very juvenile. I truly think her editors and marketing team did her a disservice by not designating this as YA and for pushing the tie to the Taylor Swift song.
Pros: the cover is very cute and I love when authors include a playlist to their books! (*caveat though* - I think these are just songs the author likes. I really didn’t see a connection to the chapters’ themes whatsoever)
Cons: very juvenile, stilted, no chemistry, and kind of a lot going on for such a short novel
I think people will pick this up bc let’s be honest, the bar for holiday romances is lower than other romances but this was sadly also very light on holiday cheer too! :(
Thank you to NetGalley and Parson Press for a copy in exchange for an honest review.
This book was a little more juvenile than I was expecting, and I struggled to finish it. I’m sure if the audience targeted is high school, or right after it will be a definite hit.
Tis the damn season was such a fun read, I read with the playlist of songs alongside (yes there's a playlist)! It fit the themes and story so well throughout both in reading pace and storyline. The couple's story was a classic first love, messy and complicated - believable and so easy to root for. The themes of family, loss, love and ambition were woven throughout with a beautiful simplicity.
There were a couple of scenes that needed a reexamination in the writing, just because the sequence of the events didn't make sense (for example the diner scene). It also didn't feel as festive as I probably would have liked it to be or as the title suggests.
Thank you to Net Galley for the Advanced Copy of this book to review
This was a fun but juvenile read - very much a holiday teenage romcom, and not quite the debut New Adult it is being marketed as. But... the author is a late teen herself so she is writing what she knows! Loved the Taylor Swift moments and this would be the perfect stocking stuffer for a holiday gift! Thanks for the ARC!
It was just okay. The thing that got me is the dialogue. It just wasn’t realistic sounding. And the kids sounded so much younger than their age portrayed them to be. Pen and Rome as teenagers didn’t sound or act like teenagers either. It was a cute easy read, though.
Well, this book was overall enjoyable, it wasn’t my favorite. You can tell it’s a first book, and written by a young author. Well, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It just wasn’t for me! I finished it, and liked some things. But the overall flow and writing was a little off personally.
This was a cute story and would definitely appeal to a lot of swifties out there with all of the taylor swift song references. I felt like the short chapters and the jumping back and forth prevented the story from excelling as much as it could have but it was a very light hearted closed door romance!
obviously as a taylor swift fan i had to read this. it was really cute and worth it for fans if taylor
To be honest I feel weird reviewing this book now knowing it was written by a teenager 💀
I just love the song so much and have such a strong visual in my head of this story whenever I listen, so I wanted to add this to my Christmas tbr!
The writing just isn’t my taste, and there were a lot of traumatic subplots just thrown in. Also really did not feel Aspen’s “celebrity” and the way the media responded to her. Just felt very fanfiction-y.
However I adored the abundance of Taylor Swift references
This book was a DNF for me. I tried to push through, but the writing felt juvenile and there was nothing about the characters that made me want to root for them.
The flashback scenes felt more realistic like the author was writing from experience, but the present day felt out of touch for what it is like being an adult. The author also created "insta love" between the characters with only a few flashbacks and no context to if they knew each other in elementary or a long term crush, it just moved very quickly.
The dual timeline idea for this kind of book is a good one, but I felt that may have been causing it to be rushed or packing too much in. I think the flashbacks could have been reduced and we still get the same effects.
I think that is all the criticism I can give for only getting through 20% of the book. I wanted to quite at 7%, but pushed on in hopes of falling in love with the characters or a better plot development, but was not met with what I needed.
Upon starting this: I had no clue the author was a TEENAGER!! Major kudos for executing a super cute debut! Each chapter title was a song (and almost all were Taylor songs!) and I was oh so impressed how well each song corresponded to what was going on during that chapter. Second chance romances are one of my most favorite tropes and this one was very well done! I appreciated how this one dealt with tough topics (death of a parent, Cancer, Parkinson’s) I thought the relationship between Aspen & Roman was organic and vey relatable! The ending was SO SWOONY!
DNF at 30%, I was sent a copy of this for free for my review from NetGalley but in the end I had to bail. There's too many cute Christmas romances to read and too little time alas. The start of a book for me has to at least set up some sort of challenges for the MC to overcome and this didn't have really have any. The internal and external dialogue is terrible. I'm vaguely curious as to what happened with the bff's lying boyfriend but it honestly didn't seem like it was ever going to get back to it or that she really cared other than her public reputation. In the end I think it was the brutal nicknames that took me out. Mi cielo, this was not the book for me.
Thank you Netgalley and Parson Press for the arc of TIS THE DAMN SEASON.
Unfortunately, this was not the holiday book for me. The writing seemed juvenile (which makes sense when I learned the author was only 16 when she wrote it) so I think going in the YA direction instead of writing the characters as adults would have helped. The characters just weren’t likeable for me and seemed immature.
A good premise for a story, but it felt a bit young for me.
I hadn’t realised the author was a teenager when I read it, so it makes sense.
A book for younger readers possibly?
3.5 rounded up to 4 - As a fellow Swiftie, I found this lightly Christmas-themed romance really delightful! I love a celeb-normie trope and the playlist of songs tied to each chapter were a really nice touch. Overall a very sweet read!
This was such a sweet book with a Taylor Swift twist! I loved the second chance romance trope. Some of the storyline was predictable but otherwise, it was a cute read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Aspen is a Hollywood actress caught in the middle of a scandal. She escapes to her small hometown in PA to escape from it all. Once there, she runs in to her ex boyfriend, Roman, who she still has undeniable chemistry for. But is he worth leaving all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood behind?
This was an adorable book that was such a fun read! It kept me on my toes and I just loved the characters! The writing was great and the past/present timeline was done so well! If you love second chance romance, this is the book for you! Such a great holiday book!
📘: ‘Tis the damn Season by Kimi Freeman
🗓️: October 24, 2023
Thank you to NetGalley, Kimi Freeman, and Parson Press for this ARC!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
*Reviewed on NetGalley and Goodreads.
I thought this was pretty juvenile in how it was written. The plot was fine, but not unique. The word choices and sentence structure weren't varied. In reading other reviews, I saw agreement that this kind of read like fan fiction. It's hard to not think that considering the title of the book is based on a Taylor Swift song of the same name. Having each chapter be titled after a song didn't help that and in a way, I think took away from what the chapter entailed because it wasn't always super relevant or clear why that song was chosen.
That being said, I found out that the author is sixteen, and knowing this influences how I review the book. Publishing a book this young is super impressive and I think that the author will get better as she continues. She has a fan and I can't wait to read what she writes next!
Unfortunately this one was a miss for me. Too juvenile and I just couldn’t get on with it. It seems like it is marketed to an adult audience, when in fact it’s far more young adult than anything else.
This book reminded me a lot of books I would read when I used to read books on Wattpad. Not a book I would recommend to others as it's quite childish. Thank you for the arc in return for my honest review.